Memorial set up on highway

A roadside memorial has been created near Trans-Canada Highway eastbound, about 20 kilometres west of Portage la Prairie, in memory of Tim McLean Jr., from Winnipeg, who was slain on a Greyhound bus on July 30. (Sun Media/Angela Brown)

A roadside memorial has been erected about 20 kilometres west of Portage la Prairie for Tim McLean Jr., 22, from Winnipeg, who was murdered in a gruesome stabbing on a Greyhound bus on July 30.

Portage Deputy Mayor Dave Quinn remarked the memorial may in some way offer support to the family and those who are grieving McLean's tragic death.

"It's just very unfortunate that a man who was just at the beginning of his adult life was taken away from life as he was," Quinn said on Aug. 3.

Quinn commented the RCMP should be credited for acting swiftly and bringing in all its resources to assist on the night of the incident.

"It was just a terrible, terrible situation, where a young man lost his life through the actions of another individual," added Quinn.

Further reports have indicated McLean boarded the Greyhound bus in Edmonton, where he had worked as a booth operator at the Capital Exhibition.

McLean has been described as an easygoing young man who "made friends effortlessly, disliked no one and accepted everyone for who they were," said Alex McLean, the victim's uncle, on Aug. 2.

McLean, who spent part of his childhood in Elie, east of Portage, was said to enjoy travelling and meeting new people.

On the night of the assault, McLean was apparently sleeping on the bus when a man sitting beside him suddenly began stabbing him in the neck and chest with a large hunting knife. Passengers said the attacker, who was locked in the bus alone with the victim, then cut off his head and held it up to the window for the other passengers to see.